AllOfMP3 Launches allTunes

AllofMP3 has released a beta of its latest desktop music library and download tool allTunes. Although the name is an obvious play on iTunes, those farmiliar with AllOFMP3 will know that they are infamous for extremely cheap, high quality and quasi-legal music downloads on the web. allTunes is a windows desktop or smartphone interface to the AllOFMP3 library, allowing users to find and download high quality music easily.

The model is simple, download the application, signup for an account, find music (amongst the 40,000 albums they have) click and download. The price is 2c per megabyte downloaded, which works out to be around $1-1.50 per album, much better than the $0.99c a song at iTunes. The reason the prices are so low is because AllOFMP3 and allTunes operate in Russia, where they claim they are complying with local copyright law and paying royalties back to artists and labels. The legality of the service is questionable, but they have been in operation for years now with no seeming threat to their existance.

The catalog is very broad, I was able to find some rare international music that I hadn’t heard for years, as well as all the usual classics. The preview feature is just awesome, it allows you to listen to a low-quality version of each song from within the player – not just a snippet but the full song (as long as you have credit in your account). I have actually been listening to music all evening just with the preview player – the quality is bearable. For sophisticated audiophiles, allTunes allows you to download your songs in a variety of codes and bitrates, from almost-lossless through to 64kbps MP3.

AllOFMP3 has been a service I have constantly used for years now, and allTunes has made it even better. I am certain these guys get a lot of business, I hope that instead of being shut down it forces the record labels to re-think their pricing strategies.